This Is How Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 James Gunn Plans to Break the MCU Canon

After the success of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, writer and director James Gunn is fast-tracking the development of the anticipated third movie. Recently, he revealed that the first draft of the upcoming movie’s script has been completed.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Update

While Marvel Studios is currently busy with their upcoming movies including next month’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and the anticipated Avengers: Infinity War, Gunn is already hard at work on the third installment to the story of Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his band of mischiefs. At E3 on Tuesday, he gave an update on the pre-production work behind Vol. 3.

“I’m writing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and I finished the first draft of the treatment yesterday,” the filmmaker stated (via Screen Rant). “I’m excited about it. I feel really great about it.”

Gunn wrote both previous movies (the first one he co-wrote with Nicole Perlman). Earlier this year, he confirmed that he will once again write and direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 which is slated to come out after the still untitled fourth Avengers movie. Moreover, he will also be involved in the development of whatever the Marvel Cinematic Universe will look like after Phase 3.

There are plenty of directions that the director could steer the sci-fi movies, and the cinematic universe, in its third installment. He already teased the arrival of Adam Warlock into the MCU in the post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Earlier this month, he teased that another cosmic hero will make a big screen debut in Vol. 3. On his social media pages, he hinted that Quasar might be joining the third movie.

“For some reason I’m just remembering now that as a kid my family’s VCR had wood paneling,” he tweeted.

Of course, it could mean that Gunn is just feeling nostalgic about the media player. However, Quasar is also the name of another superhero from Marvel.

Born Wendell Vaughn, Quasar is also originally from Earth like Peter Quill. His introduction into the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 could spark an interesting dynamic between the two characters. How he will figure into the future of the MCU remains to be seen.

Breaking the Marvel Canon

In the same panel, Gunn also talked about the established canon in the MCU and how he plans to break it in the third movie. While he was hesitant to share anything, he was able to give a hint at what he wanted to change thanks to the prodding of his fellow panelists and the audience.

He reminded the audience about the scene in the first movie where, after being captured and going through the mugshots, the Nova Corps pulled out information about each character that includes their background. Gunn said there is one thing from the scene that he might want to change.

“Now, Marvel Canon – MCU – is crazy,” he commented. “I have a really good storytelling reason for breaking the canon, and I stayed up last night figuring out if I’m gonna do it or not. I still don’t know.”

While the information he wants to change would not be noticed by viewers except for the hardcore fans, it was still in the movie and, therefore, part of the canon. If, as the director assured, the change will be for the good of the cinematic universe, fans will likely be able to forgive the minuscule continuity error.

Hunn still has three years to figure out whether to break the canon in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The movie which will be released in 2020 will take place after the events of Avengers 4 and will be the last offering of Marvel’s Phase 3.